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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25148743">An Archangel Beckons</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/llewynn/pseuds/llewynn'>llewynn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Corazon Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Corazon Week 2020, Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante Lives, Gen, SPOILERS FOR WANO ARC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:01:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,285</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25148743</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/llewynn/pseuds/llewynn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>[duality]</p><p>The Heart Pirates see a previously unknown side to Corazon.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante &amp; Trafalgar D. Water Law</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Corazon Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821829</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>152</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>An Archangel Beckons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>From the way Law talked about Corazon, they’d expected a saint. One with a disturbing propensity to set himself on fire, but a saint nonetheless. This was the man who’d saved their captain’s life, after all. Gave him a reason to live and all that, even if that reason was a hellbent desire for revenge that spanned thirteen years and culminated in one of the most shocking island liberations in recent history. </p><p>But hey, the Heart Pirates were nothing if not an adaptable bunch. So what if they had Kaido’s attention now? That was <i>nothing</i> compared to the captain’s saviour — practically a mythic figure at this point — coming back to life and scaring the shit out of them in a flurry of what Menka swore was hellfire and sulphur, all while they were 300 feet underwater.</p><p>And for the most part, he met their expectations. Law said he was clumsy, and it was true; Corazon would trip over thin air and crash into walls apropos of absolutely nothing. He set himself on fire regularly as he smoked on the decks and broke so many dishes in the short time since his joining that the crew had unanimously banned him from dishwashing duty ever since. They had a running bet on how many things Corazon could break in a single day — so far, the record was five plates, three mugs (one of which was Shachi’s favourite that Corazon had apologised profusely for and procured a replacement on the next island), a light panel, two overhead shelves, four chairs and a crate that he’d sat on after he broke his fourth chair.</p><p>Law said Corazon was the kindest person he had ever met, and the Heart Pirates couldn’t disagree — they’d seen him with the children in Wano, how he had snuck them the food they’d stolen from the farms and made a fool of himself to distract them from their hunger when he couldn’t, his goofy faces making their laughter ring out loud. He made Ikkaku hot drinks and patiently listened to her irritated gripes whenever the male crewmembers got to her nerves. He looked out for anyone who needed help, always ready to lend a hand, and whenever Bepo or Jean Bart or anyone who fell asleep in the control room woke up with a blanket draped over them, they knew it was Corazon’s doing.</p><p>That was how the Heart Pirates got to know Corazon in the first few weeks since his ‘return’, as they'd called it (resurrection raised too many questions, pun notwithstanding, and the fewer who knew the better) — as the saintly figure their captain’s words had always painted him to be, endearingly kind and clumsy and all.</p><p>And then came the raid on Onigashima.</p><p><br/>
</p><p>What Law had never felt the need to mention — or indeed cared to, since it was never a point of importance for him — was the fact that Corazon, for all his saintly clumsiness, was a goddamn <i>Marine Commander</i>. He was a commissioned officer who had spent years undercover in one of the most ruthless pirate crews in the North Blue, who’d only gotten caught because he’d went off the rails and defied both the Donquixote Pirates and the Marines to save Law’s life.</p><p>The Heart Pirates knew him as Corazon, Law’s saviour and father figure. They didn’t know him as the second holder of the Heart Seat in the Donquixote Pirates, making him second in authority and power <i>only to Doflamingo.</i> They didn’t know the ruthlessness and tenacity that had kept him alive all those years while he was undercover, or the vengeful temper that had him burning down every single hospital that had refused to treat Law for Amber Lead poisoning. </p><p>To them, Corazon was just Corazon.</p><p>So to say the Heart Pirates were shocked when they first saw him in combat would have been a bit of an understatement.</p><p><br/>
</p><p>“Oh, Cora.” Penguin looked up from where he was crouched by the shelves, up and up and up into Corazon’s sheepish face. “Did you need something?”</p><p>“Ah, well, we’re going to be heading into battle soon, aren’t we? I thought I should at least arm myself…” </p><p>There was an armless-and-harmless joke in there somewhere, Penguin was sure of it, but he kept quiet. It’d be funnier with the captain anyway, who actually had been rendered temporarily armless in Dressrosa if the massive scar that bisected the heart tattoo on his right arm was any indication — although he was certain the captain hadn’t been any less deadly for the lack of a limb. He pushed himself up from his crouch and stretched, wincing as his back cracked.</p><p>“Sure, I can help you with that.” He gestured at the rows of shelves that made up the storage room. “We probably have something you could use in here.” </p><p>“Much obliged.” </p><p>They picked their way through the mess of items that cluttered the shelves of the storage room. They rooted through crates and trunks stacked haphazardly together, peering here and there. Corazon picked up and mused over several throwing knives — a set that Clione had won in a card game once and thrown aside once he discovered he had absolutely no talent with it — and a worn but sturdy sabre before deciding to keep them, but it wasn’t until he literally stumbled over a pair of flintlock pistols that his eyes brightened with the satisfaction of a person who had found exactly what he’d been looking for.</p><p>“Can I have these, Penguin?” he asked.</p><p>Penguin shrugged. “Sure,” he said easily. “I’ll give you the ammo for them too.” The pistols were brand new, looted from a sinking pirate ship that had foolishly decided to challenge the Heart Pirates for their captain’s bounty, and had been languishing in the storage room ever since. Aside from Jean Bart, no one in the crew liked using guns much anyway.</p><p>He turned away to look for the bullets and missed the dangerous smile on Corazon’s face then. </p><p><br/>
</p><p>That dangerous smile was out in full force as the Heart Pirates clashed with the Beast Pirates on Onigashima, with a dash of laser-focused deadliness added for good measure. Corazon and Law fought back to back, each wearing similar slasher smiles and dispatching their enemies with terrifying efficiency. </p><p>“I’m gonna have nightmares about this,” Shachi had muttered to Penguin as he raced past to take out a Gifter, and Penguin was inclined to agree. They were used to the captain’s particular brand of brutal dismemberment, even without his Devil Fruit powers, but it was Corazon that really struck fear into their hearts, crewmates as they were.</p><p>He weaved in and out of throngs of enemies with ease, cutting through them with his sabre and twisting to throw a knife into a pirate’s jugular with deadly accuracy in one smooth movement. When a large hulkish Waiter lunged at him with a swing of her battleax, Corazon easily sidestepped the blow, letting Law take his place to strike the Waiter down, before pulling out his flintlock pistol and shooting three pirates coming their way in the head. </p><p>Corazon and Law moved together like they’d been practicing for this all their lives, matched in their vicious brutality — the Surgeon of Death and the Second Corazon of the Donquixote Pirates, carving a bloody path through the monsters of Onigashima, leaving behind mountains of lifeless bodies in their wake.</p><p>The Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance would eventually claim their victory over the two Emperors, liberating yet another country in the process. The Night of the Fire Festival would go down as one of the most historic moments leading up to the Throne Wars.</p><p>But for the Heart Pirates, that was the moment they finally met Donquixote Rosinante.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Who the heck is Menka, I hear you ask. It's this guy:<br/><br/></p><p>I named him Menka (or kamen i.e. mask in Japanese) out of sheer laziness and somehow the name... stuck? He's forever Menka to me now.</p><p>This is my take on Corazon Week! Set in a universe where Corazon is resurrected following a challenge from a mysterious man Law met when he was a younger pirate. Very self-indulgent but alas, we simply have to make our own food sometimes.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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